


Like Fire and Ice

by Mortal_Wonderland



Category: Free!
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Blood, Bodyguard, Drowning, Injury, M/M, Olympics, Pain, Swimming, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:54:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25071226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mortal_Wonderland/pseuds/Mortal_Wonderland
Summary: The first time you touch your soulmate a bright light appears, the brighter the light the stronger the connection between the two. For Haru he'd been waiting his whole life for that moment but it never seemed to come. Beginning to feel lost he can't even seem to muster the strength to care that he's about to compete for the chance to represent his country in the Olympics. This race will change a lot more than his career. Is it so much to ask for his happily ever after?
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka
Comments: 1
Kudos: 7





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is currently unfinished and I have no plans to finish it anytime soon. I've had this sitting on my laptop for a while and I just wanted to share it with someone, even if it's unfinished. While this isn't my first fan fiction, it is my first in this fandom and posting on this website so I hope I did it justice.
> 
> -M

Haru stared at his wrists thoughtfully as he waited for his name to be called for the race. He’d been doing this a lot lately, zoning out, diving deep into his own thoughts. He felt like he was drowning in them and there was nothing he could do about it. For a long time now he’d felt like he was missing out on life, going through it like through a fog.

Deep down he knew that not everyone met their soulmate before they died, but he’d always dreamt about his, wishing for the moment that they’d finally touch and that bright light would shine telling him that this was the person he was meant to be with for the rest of his life. The light didn’t even have to be that big, just a small shine. He knew the brighter the light the more intense the connection between soulmates but at this point he’d settle for something small. But it hadn’t happened and Haru was struggling to come to the realisation that it probably never would for him. That didn’t necessarily have to mean he could never be happy, after all there were plenty of people that never found their soulmates and still fell in love. But deep down there was this hollow feeling in his chest that ached every time he considered the fact that he could spend the rest of his life alone.

“Haruka Nanase.” His head snapped up as his name was called and he moved as directed, his thoughts once again drifting away from the upcoming race. When Haru stepped out into the pool area he was immediately bombarded with the deafening cheers of the crowd. Glancing around he found the familiar sight of the pool with swimmers already beginning to line up, his own spot not too far from him now. This was it, the moment he could do what everyone expected of him and make it into the olympics. All it took was one more race, and then he’d have made it. He’d be an olympian.

And yet, as much as he tried to gather the excitement at the idea, it all just felt hollow. He should have been thrilled at he idea of competing to reach his goal, or even nervous about the possibility of loosing, instead it just felt like another race to him. One more race of many in a never ending monotony of swimming for other people.

Trying to push away his desire to feel something for a change, Haru walked forwards towards his lane and began his usual preparations for the race. He felt himself going through the motions, not even caring enough to size up his competition in the lanes next to him. He simply kept his gaze on the water, trying to find meaning in it. He used to love swimming more than anything, but usually it simply felt like the water was nothing more than that. It didn’t connect with him anymore, it didn’t call out to him and it almost felt like Haru had lost someone greatly important to him and was now mourning their death.

Heaving one final sigh, Haru pushed his goggles down onto his face and positioned himself waiting for the starting signal. Without thinking about it his body immediately surged forward at the beep and Haru found himself not even having to think about his movements. His own body knew what to do from years of movement ingrained into him, each muscle moving perfectly.

Haru swam, ignoring the people beside him and the rest of the world. Instead, he focused on the water, searching for the connection he’d lost so long ago, because he knew that without it he’d continue to go through life like a puppet on a string, never truly in control of himself or his own dreams. If he couldn’t find his soulmate, he at least needed to feel like he could connect with the water.

So lost in his own thoughts that the feeling of a hand brushing against his as it surged out of the water made him jump and twist suddenly to his left. He floated for a second under the water as he examined the man in front of him. Much like Haru he’d frozen in place and was staring back at him as they both held their breath under the water. Somewhere in the back of his mind Haru registered a blinding light emanating from around them but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the other man’s long enough to look. He felt trapped under his scarlet gaze and yet there was a sudden lightness to him that he’d never experienced before.

Before Haru even had a chance to react he felt hands grabbing at him and yanking him away from the other man. Panic swelled within him and he began to trash around as he was pulled to the surface. Before his head breached the surface he noticed the other man too was being dragged away from him by unknown hands. When he finally surfaced Haru gasped in a lungful of fresh air, his struggles to get away from the hands holding him never ceasing.

“Let him go!” His eyes were immediately drawn back to the beautiful man, seeing him struggling against his own hold. Haru yanked his arm back once more, managing to elbow one of his captors and loosen their grip on him. He used the temporary advantage to surge forwards. Before he could even think he found himself wrapping his arms around the other man, his own snaking around him in a protective manner and it suddenly felt like all was right with the world. The earlier fog had cleared to reveal a new startling clarity to everything around him.

After a moment he pulled his face away from the man’s chest and examined his surroundings. Haru’s teammates were standing where he’d been only moments ago, their eyes trained on him disbelievingly. Looking over the shoulder of the man holding him he noticed for the first time they were the Australian team all with the same looks on their faces as his own team.

There was a deafening silence in the arena as everyone gaped in his direction. Suddenly nervous with all of those eyes trained on him Haru tightened his grasp on the other man, knowing somewhere deep down that he would protect him. When he felt the grip on his body tighten in return he felt his body relax slightly.

“Nanase!” His eyes snapped over to the side of the pool where his coach was standing. “You need to get out of the pool.” Haru noticed his voice was slightly soft, maybe his coach was trying to to scare him.

“Yeah, you should get out of the pool too Rin.” Haru’s gaze drifted over to the man speaking and noticed it was the coach for the Australian team. He felt the man against him begin to nod slightly before he looked down towards Haru. They didn’t exchange any words, but somehow Haru knew that it was a sort of promise that he wouldn’t go anywhere if Haru didn’t want him to. That thought alone comforted him enough to finally let go of the man and begin to wade out of the water, the other man staying next to him the entire time. When Haru moved to pull himself out of the pool he felt hands pulling him up from above. But the feeling of a hand against his back, gently helping, sent a shiver down his spine.

Only when Rin was also out of the pool did Haru move his feet in the direction of the locker room, following both his own coach and the Australian one. Haru knew he should be worried about the race or what his coach would say, but he couldn’t find it within himself to care, not when his hand was pulled into a slightly larger one.

When they were finally out of sight in the locker room Haru’s coach gestured for him to sit on one of the benches and he silently obeyed, pulling Rin with him. “Jesus Christ Nanase!” His coach sounded more exasperated than mad though, “Only you would find your fucking soulmate in the pool while in the middle of one of the most important races of your career.” Haru watched as his coach pulled a hand over his face and began to pace in front of him.

“Blimey, it really is some truly terrible timing mate.” The other coach spoke with a slight laugh. “We’ll try and talk to the judges and see if we can’t re-schedule the race.”

“Would they do that?” Haru could practically feel the vibrations coming from Rin’s chest as he spoke next to him.

Haru’s coach stopped pacing then to look at them both. “Considering the light coming from both of you was enough to distract all of the other racers enough to not finish the race then I say we have a pretty good chance. After all, they need a winner at the end of the day.” He felt himself give a sigh of relief and actually felt a spark of excitement at the prospect of racing with his mate.

“I’ve never seen a light that bright from a pair of soulmates. Come to think of it, I don’t think there’s ever been a light that bright.” The Australian coach babbled as he examined Haru and Rin’s intertwined hands. “I suppose this’ll mean you’ll want to compete for Japan instead of Australia?”

Rin didn’t even think about before responding, “I’m sorry coach.” The man waved him off without a care.

“Don’t worry about it mate. I think everyone will understand.” Haru found his gaze jumping from Rin to the Australian coach quickly, trying to figure out if what they were saying was true.

“You can do that?” The words rushed from his mouth before he could stop them.

Rin looked over to him and Haru was caught in his stunning gaze. There was a radiant smile on his face now as he focused on Haru. “I was born in Japan so I have Japanese citizenship.”

“Really?” He’d whispered it so quietly he wasn’t even sure if Rin had heard him or not, this all seemed too good to be true. Rin placed his empty hand against Haru’s cheek while he nodded his head in reply, his smile only widening.

They were interrupted from their small moment when the Australian coach began speaking again. “I’ll go talk to the officials and see if I can get everything sorted. In the mean time I want you to get checked out by a medic.” When Rin moved to argue the man continued talking over him. “No objections Rin, you’re still on my team for the moment. You spent a long time underwater before your teammates pulled you up and I want to make sure you’re alright before you get back in that water later. Understood?”

Rin nodded his head once again grimly, “Yes sir.”

“You should get checked out too Nanase. I won’t let you back in the pool until I get the all clear from the medics.” His coach explained.

“Hai.” He replied.

“We’ll give you two a minute, once you’re done I expect you to go straight to the medics.” Haru was eternally grateful for his coach in that moment. He decided he would thank him later, right now he had more important things to think about. When the door finally closed behind the coaches Haru turned to look at Rin and found he was already staring back at him. They were silent for a long time, neither one breaking the precious silence as they held onto each others hands.

“I’m Rin by the way, Rin Matsuoka.”

“Haru.” He replied with a small smile.


	2. Chapter 2

To say everyone was complete okay with Rin switching teams would be a lie. Most people understood why he was doing it, especially since Haru wouldn’t be able to swim for the Australian team even if he wanted to, but there were still a lot of people that thought he was a traitor or that Haru had somehow tricked him into doing it. It hurt Rin to think that there were people out there blaming Haru for his decisions but there was nothing he could do about it. So he sucked it up and tried to push down the overwhelming need to protect Haru from the world.

Today was supposed to be a good day after all. It was the last qualifying races for the Olympics. He wasn’t swimming today, already having qualified for his races, including the one the had had to re-schedule. He wasn’t competing today, but he was watching. It was Haru’d last race and even thought Haru had already qualified for the Olympic team, much to Rin’s pleasure, he still had one more race to go. So Rin was there to support him.

He’d already gone to the prep area and wished Haru good luck before making his way to the spectator seats. His best friend Souske had accompanied him and he was grateful for his presence when he started to get nervous for his mate’s race. He was up next and despite Haru assuring him that even if he lost they would go to the Olympics together, he still felt nervous for him. It felt like he was the one about to race with how fast his heart was racing.

Souske placed a supportive hand on his shoulder and Rin looked over to him gratefully before gazing back over to the pool. When Haru’s name was called Rin was on his feet with he rest of the crowd cheering for him. Haru looked over in his direction and Rin saw the small smirk he gave him. Rin felt his heart soar at the gesture, knowing that for Haru that was his version of a radiant full on smile. When Haru turned back towards the water Rin watched him getting ready.

As he looked on he felt this nervous fluttering in his stomach unrelated to the upcoming race. Something was wrong but he couldn’t quite figure out what. Haru seemed off somehow. His movements weren’t as fluid as they’d been before. Rin tried to convince himself that he couldn’t possibly know what was normal for Haru after only having known a short while, but another part of him was screaming at him that something was definitely off.

Before he could think about it much longer the racers were up on the starting blocks and in position to start the race. Rin held his breath along with the rest of the audience as the starting beep sounded sending all of the racers into the water. It was only after Haru’d reached the end of his first lap that Rin realised there was something seriously wrong with him. His movements were becoming more irregular and jerky, every stroke slowing don further than the last. When he reached around the middle of the pool Haru seemed to stop moving completely and began to sink into the water taking Rin’s heart along with him.

Almost instantly there were people diving into the pool and pulling Haru over to the edge of the pool. Rin tried to move towards him but Sousuke had him in a death grip leaving Rin to watch as the gently raised Haru out of the pool and onto the floor. Rin strained to see his unconscious mate around the paramedic. The whole arena has gone deathly quiet once again as the tried to see if Haru was okay or not. When Rin noticed that his mate still wasn’t moving after a few agonising seconds he renewed his efforts to pull out of Sousuke’s grip. He yanked himself free and was sprinting forwards without a second thought. He made it as far as the barrier between the audience and the pool before he was stopped once again, this time by security.

From this new angle Rin watched helplessly as Haru lay on the floor like a corpse. He held his breath, urging the paramedics to work faster, to do better. They couldn’t loose Haru, he wouldn’t allow them to. He heart stuttered to a stop when Haru jolted sideways and chocked up some pool water. The broken coughs reverberated through the hall before Haru collapsed onto his side, exhaustion overtaking his body. rin could see the paramedics moving again, one of them talking softly to Haru who was beginning to struggle against the people around him.

“Rin! Where’s Rin? I want Rin.” Haru’s weak voiced floated across the room towards him. Theparamedics turned towards him then, seeming to realise they wouldn’t be able to calm down Haru without him. The security guards paused for a moment before finally letting him through. Rin moved as fast as he physically could collapsing onto his knees as he reached Haru’s side.

“I’m right here. I’m here.” Rin gasped out his hand reaching forwards to stroke Haru’s face gently.

“Mr Nanase, I need you to answer a few questions for me, can you do that?” The paramedic on Rin’s right asked him. Haru glanced over to the woman briefly before looking back to Rin and nodding he head weakly. “Do you know what happened in the pool before you passed out?”

“I’m…I’m not sure. I was getting ready for the race and I started to feel a bit off. I thought it might be nerves or something so I just ignored it but then when I got in the water I felt really tired and my body suddenly felt heavy. I tried to keep going but it kept getting worse and I… I couldn’t…I” Rin continued to gently stroke Haru’s face, trying to calm him down.

“You’re doing really well Mr. Nanase,” The paramedic told him, “just a few more questions. Did you eat or drink anything before the race?”

“Just my water from my bag.” Haru said softly.

“Is it still in there?” She asked him gently. He nodded in reply, his eyes conveying his confusion at the question. The paramedic turned towards Haru’s coach who had been standing nearby watching the interaction. “Could you please get it for me?” He nodded once before disappearing quickly out of sight. It was less than a minute before he was back again, the water bottle in hand. The paramedic took it gently from him before opening it. Rin watched on in confusion as she first sniffed the rim of the bottle and then examined the water intensely. After a long moment of consideration she put the bottle down and looked back down to Haru. “Okay Mr. Nanase, I think someone may have drugged your water, but we won’t know for sure until we get you to hospital and examine you.” Haru’s eyes widened slightly and Rin’s heart stilled for what felt like the millionth time.

Suddenly it felt like everything was happening all at once. The paramedic turned to her colleague and mumbled something about moving Haru. Before Rin had the chance to ask what was happening he was being yanked away from Haru by the same security guards as before.

“Rin?” Haru’s worried voice asked.

“Let me go! I need to be with him! Let me go!” Rin tried to struggle but their hold on him was like iron.

“I’m sorry Mr.Matsuoka but I’m afraid protocol for this means that no one will be allowed near Mr.Nanase until the culprit is caught.” One of the guards told him as he continued to struggle.

“But I need to be with him! I need to help him! Please! Haru!” Despite his pleas the guards didn’t release their hold on him and Rin was forced to watch as they took Haru away from him.

* * *

It had been a few days since that incident and Rin still couldn’t get anywhere near Haru. They’d taken him to hospital and he’d been left behind, not even allowed to know how he was doing. Rin felt miserable, even as he walked into the Japanese Olympic training centre where he’d be spending the foreseeable future preparing for the Olympics. This was supposed to be his dream but all he could think about was the mesmerising blue eyes that haunted him every waking moment.

He trudged through the halls and made his way the a conference room where they were supposed to have their orientation. Haru should have been there next to him, preparing for their Olympic training. Instead Rin walked into the conference room alone and sat at one of the many chairs positioned around the large table at the centre of the room, dumping his kit bag under the his chair. He didn’t even bother looking around at the other Olympic swimmers he’d be training with, he just glared at the table instead and waited for the meeting to start.

“Welcome everyone.” Rin glanced up briefly to see his new coach standing at the front of the room along with another man and a woman, all three of them dressed in the same sports uniform. His eyes were drawn back down to the table as he felt the bitterness inside of him grow at Haru’s lack of presence. “My name is Coach Goro Sasabe and these are my assistant coaches Nao Serizawa and Chigusa Hanamura. We’re happy to have you all here. The next few months are going to be very exciting and trying for all of you but I’m confident that at the end of this journey we’ll be able to win some Olympic medals for Japan.” He paused for a moment before continuing in a more sombre tone. “I’m sure you all know that we are currently missing a team member. At the moment I’m afraid that we don’t have any news regarding Mr.Nanase’s condition. Mr. Matsuoka,” Rin looked up and found all eyes in the room trained on him. “you haven’t heard anything, have you?”

Rin felt the bitterness rise inside him again and he had to clench his fists under the table in order to avoid punching something in that moment. “They won’t let me see him or even talk to him.” He could hear the anger and sadness in his own voice and cursed himself for sounding so weak in front of his new teammates.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Coach Sasabe told him softly. “Just know that we’re all here for you if you ever need anything.”

Rin forced himself to look up and look his coach in the eye. “Thank you.” After that the Coach continued to break down what would be happening in the upcoming weeks as well as give them all their training schedule and room allocations. In all honestly, Rin couldn’t bring himself to care about any of it. All he wanted was to see Haru again, to hold him in his arms and protect him from the world. While Rin was separated from Haru it felt like nothing was right with the world and it wouldn’t be until they were together again.


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like a dream walking through the doors of the Japanese Olympic training centre for the first time. It had been a couple of weeks since the pool incident and Haru had finally been cleared to leave the hospital and go, though he wasn’t quite as free as he would have liked when he imagine walking through those doors all that time ago. It turned out that he definitely had been drugged though they weren’t sure if it had been an attempt at his life, or if someone simply wanted him to pass out before even being able to compete. Either way they still hadn’t caught the person responsible.

Haru pushed those thoughts away as he entered the building and was immediately greeted with a kind receptionist who was expecting his arrival. She walked him through a few essential bits of information before offering to give him the tour. Throughout the entire time she’d been talking to him Haru had been trying to quell his excitement at the prospect of finally being able to see Rin again. He was finally in the same building as the man and any minute now they would be reunited.

He was practically bouncing on his feet as the receptionist showed him the facility, each new room causing Haru’s eyes to scan the area for Rin. It was only when they finally made it to the cafeteria that he caught the sight of burgundy hair across the room. He was sitting at a table surrounded by people, but Haru could see how alone he truly was. His shoulders were slumped and he was playing with his food, making no attempt to actually eat the stuff. It was clear the others were trying to include him in the conversation but he simply shrugged every time he was addressed. “Rin.” The name slipped past his lips before he could stop himself.

Instantly Rin’s head snapped up at the sound of his voice and all the sound in the room instantly stopped. “Haru.” Rin was out of his chair in a moment, practically running towards Haru. When Rin finally reached him, Haru was crushed in a hug his breath leaving his lungs in an instant. “You’re finally here. I’m so sorry I didn’t visit you. I wanted to, I swear but-”

“I know.” Haru interrupted him moving to swipe away the tears that had begun to run down Rin’s cheeks. “I missed you.”

A broken laugh escaped Rin’s lips and he was squeezing Haru tighter against himself. rin leaned forwards so that their foreheads were pressed against each other. “I missed you too. God! I missed you so much.” Haru wanted to back in the moment but his luck once again turned sour when they were being pulled apart by the stupid security guard that had been assigned to _protect_ Haru.

“Please do not touch Mr.Nanase.” The guard spoke as he continued to push Rin away from him.

Rin opened his mouth as if to protest but no words came out. Instead it was Haru who finally spoke up. “Fuck off! I already told you that I don’t want a bodyguard.”

The guard kept his grip on Rin as he turned to Haru to respond. “That’s not your choice Mr. Nanase. The heads of the Japanese Olympic team have decided that for your protection you are to have a guard until the culprit of your attack is caught.”

“That doesn’t mean that you have to keep separated from everyone!”

“That’s exactly what it means sir.” He replied calmly. Rin finally managed to snap out of his confusion and began to struggle against his captor.

“Let go! You can’t keep me away from him!” Rin protested.

“My orders are to keep Mr. Nanase safe from everyone, which means if you continue to fight me your position on this team will be in jeopardy.” The guard explained calmly, not showing any signs of fatigue from restraining Rin.

“I don’t care! Let me go!” Rin shot back.

“Rin.” Haru spoke softly, he knew what he was about to say would hurt but he didn’t want Rin to loosed everything he’d worked so hard for. “Don’t. Please, I don’t want you to give up your dream for me. It’s only until they catch the person who drugged me.” He could see Rin’s resolve starting to break. “Please Rin, I don’t want to do this without you.” Haru wanted so badly to hug Rin but knew he couldn’t. Instead he clenched his fists as he watched Rin deflate and nod his head. Haru’s body guard finally let him go, seeing he wasn’t going to resist anymore. They stood there for a moment simply staring at one another before Rin clenched his eyes shut. Haru watched him take a shuddering breath before he opened his eyes again and stormed out of the room.


	4. Chapter 4

It felt like some sort of torture for Rin. All he ever wanted to do was go up to Haru and hold him but he was forced to watch from a distance, knowing that if he ever got any closer he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from lunging at the boy. He could tell it was taking a toll on Haru as well by the way he’d catch him staring from across the room when the were training or eating.

They hadn’t talked since Haru first arrived at the training centre a few weeks ago and every minute was killing Rin inside. At first he’d been angry and irritable, not wanting to talk to anyone or do anything other than what was absolutely required of him. But after a while he could feel the loneliness beginning to suffocate him to he tried to be slightly more friendly and get to know the rest of his teammates. For a short while it seemed to be a good distraction and he managed to not think about Haru for every second of every day, but he could never really get rid of the itching feeling on his skin. It was like his body needed him to go to Haru and was constantly trying to remind him of it. It didn’t take long for it to feel like his skin was constantly crawling and in found himself subconsciously scratching his arms and legs all the time.

Practice was especially hard, watching Haru in the water, his graceful strokes and incredible speed just made him want to pull him close and not let go. He wanted to shout to the world that Haru was his and he was Haru’s but how could he do that when he could barely stand to be in the same room as him without being able to touch each other.

More than once Rin had come close to ignoring everything and simply going over to Haru, but then he heard Haru’s gentle voice pleading with Rin not to abandon him and he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t go to the man no matter how much he wanted to, how much his skin crawled and his insides churned. And it was complete and utter agony.

Today felt particularly bad. Rin had woken up feeling like there was this weight on his lungs making every breath a huge effort and his skin was itching more than ever. All he wanted to do was lie in bed and forget the rest of the world. Instead he dragged himself out of bed and to breakfast where he glared at his food and ignored his teammates who were chatting excitedly about their upcoming training that day. When it was finally time to head to the pool Rin dumped his food, not having eaten a single bite and headed over to the pool where their coaches were waiting.

“Good morning Olympians.” Coach Sasabe greeted them. “Today we’ll be splitting into three groups. Each group will work with one of us,” he continued gesturing towards himself and the two assistant coaches with him. “After an hour with each coach you will rotate to another coach until you’ve completed all three regimens we’ve prepared for you. Any questions?” When no one spoke up he moved over to the whiteboard behind him. “Good. These will be your groups for today.” Rin watched as Coach Sasabe scrawled the names onto the board and quickly noted that he’d be starting with Coach Hanamura by the pool. He couldn’t help but notice that Haru had been assigned to work with Coach Serizawa in the gym.

Rin watched almost in a daze as Haru walked out of the pool area with the rest of his group, his bodyguard following him closely behind. After a few words from Coach Hanamura, Rin and the rest of his group were in the pool doing their warmups. The hour passed agonisingly slowly and Rin could feel himself growing more tense and irritated as it went. By the time they finally crawled out of the pool it felt like his skin was burning from the tension. Rin noticed that Haru’s group had returned from the gym and already changed back into their swimming gear in preparation for their turn with Coach Hanamura. Rin meanwhile was about to head over to Coach Sasabe for his session. Rin’s group finished towering off and headed over to Coach Sasabe to receive their next instructions. Rin briefly registered the sound of splashing as Haru’s group dove into the pool and began their own warmups. “Right, those of you with me, we’ll be working on some core stretches and exercises. Let’s head over to the mats to start.” Without waiting for an answer he turned on his heels and began marching over to the mats, expecting the rest of them to follow.

Once almost everyone else had moved away Rin forced himself to follow his group, knowing every step was taking him further away from Haru. He could hear Seijuro Mikoshiba, Sei for short, trying to make conversation but Rin wasn’t paying any attention to him. The itching of his skin seemed to immediately turn to a burning so intense that he collapsed onto his knees. With every second he felt the pain rising and he couldn’t stop the scream that ripped its way out of his throat.Rin felt himself fall to the floor but couldn’t find the energy to care. He began thrashing around trying to free himself from the flames burning at his skin, even going fo far as to claw at it but nothing seemed to work. Rin couldn’t stop the screams from tearing out of his throat.

He wanted the agony to stop but it only intensified with every passing second. He felt hands on him suddenly, holding him down and preventing him from trying to claw away at his own skin. Everywhere they touched it felt like the heat intensified and he could feel the tears pouring down his face. “Please! Make it stop! Make it stop!” He wailed between screams, still thrashing around on the floor despite the hands holding him down. “It hurts! Make it stop!” He vaguely noticed Coach Sasabe along with a paramedic trying to talk to him so he tried to stop screaming long enough to hear what they were saying. The cries caught in his throat making it harder for him to breathe but he needed to hear them.

“What hurts Rin?” The paramedic asked him calmly but Rin could see the panic in his eyes as he scanned Rin’s body for injuries and couldn’t find any.

“Everything!” He wailed. “Everything burns! Please make it stop! Please!” He could feel more tears streaming down his face as he continues to cry and scream in agony.

Through his own wailing voice he heard a commotion from across the pool. “Fuck! I need a medic!” Rin watched the paramedic attending him glance somewhere across the room but before he could say anything there was a loud curse from somewhere above Rin.

“Shit! His ears are bleeding.” Rin tried to concentrate on his ears to sees if they felt wet but he couldn’t tell if it was from blood or his own tears still streaming down his face.

“So is his nose.” Another voice added from above him. this time he could taste the blood coming from his nose as he continued to scream through the pain.

The paramedic took a second to examine him as best he could while Rin continued to thrash about. “What’s wrong with him?!” The medic screamed over his shoulder, clearly having decided that Rin’s case was currently more urgent. Rin could tell he was stressed and confused which only caused his own panic to rise.

“Make it stop! Please!” He continued to beg through the pain.

“He passed out and won’t wake up! And he’s as cold as ice!” There was a pause before the man spoke up again. “His nose and ears are bleeding!”

“What?!” The paramedic shouted, his eyes going wide for a moment. “Bring him over here, I need to take a look!” Rin wanted so badly to rip at his own skin and make the pain go away but the hands holding him down only pushed harder the more he tried to get away from them. His vision had long since blurred with the amount of tears streaming out of his eyes but he still noticed when a dark figure loomed over him for a second before leaning down next to him.

There was a light pressure against his bare chest and as suddenly as the pain had come it disappeared. Rin took a few deep breaths in succession, his body immediately going slack from his lack of energy. He let his head roll to the side and noticed Haru was lying next to him, his arm dropped unceremoniously onto Rin’s chest. “Haru.” Rin chocked out, his throat feeling like he’d swallowed a box of razors.

Haru’s eyes blinked open tiredly, “Rin.” he replied in a tired whisper. Haru twitched the arm that was resting on Rin’s chest as if reaching for him before closing his eyes again and passing out. Rin felt the last of his energy drain away and he couldn’t keep his eyes open any longer. He vaguely registered the sound of people talking worriedly above him but his body was too far gone and he dropped into unconsciousness.


End file.
